CHITTAGONG, May 31 (BSS)- Nearly 14 lakh children under five will be given vitamin A Plus capsules during National Vitamin A plus campaign -12 on June 2 in the city and district.

The campaign will start at 8am and continue up to 4pm without any intermission.

Over 700 supervisors including Commissioners of 41 wards will supervise the ‘A’ Plus campaign in their respective jurisdictions in the port city.

A total of 4992 temporary vaccination centres will be set up by Chittagong Civil Surgeon office in all 14 upazilas in Chittagong while Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) will set up 1248 temporary centres in its 41 wards to carry out the programme.

Over 25000 volunteers and health workers including 4848 by CCC would be engaged for giving vitamin ‘A’ Plus capsules to the children up to 5 years while one worming tablet would be given to each aged between 2 and 5 years.

Besides, 1200 volunteers and health workers in CCC area and 4850 in 14 upazilas in the district will carry out the drive in the following four days from June 3 as a follow- up programme, visiting households to cover up drop- out children, CCC and civil surgeon office sources said.

CCC sources said several mobile teams consisting of 278 members in port city and 580 members in the district have been engaged to feed oral vaccines to the children at rail, bus and steamer stations as well as other places of makeshift living.

RANGPUR, May 31 (BSS) – All preparations have been completed for conducting Vitamin A Plus Campaign in all 58 upazilas under eight districts of Rangpur division on June 2 next, officials said here today.

A total of 20,33,095 under-5 children will be administered with Vitamin A Plus Capsule and of them, 3,24,232 babies between six and 11 months and 17,08,863 others between 1 and five years will be given Vitamin A Plus Blue Capsules and Red Capsules respectively.

Besides, 15,84,018 children of 2 to 5 years age group of them will be given deworming Albendazole tablets on the day, Divisional Director (Health) Dr Shahadat Hossain told BSS this noon.

All Civil Surgeons and Upazila Heath and Family Planning Officers in association with different GOB-NGOs have taken all necessary steps to make the campaign successful in the division, he said.

The campaign will be conducted under the auspices of Institute of Public Health Nutrition, National Nutrition Services and Family Planning Directorate under the Health and Family Welfare Ministry with the assistances of UNICEF and World Health Organisation. Dr Shahadat Hossain said the campaign is aimed at reducing death risks of babies, preventing night blindness, bitot’s spots, corneal lesions and weight losses, poor growth and anemia from worm infestations to ensure healthy growth of the children.

A total of 40,740 volunteers and 5,228 supervisors will work at 352 hard to reach centres, 538 union offices and 13,580 other sites in all 58 upazilas in Rangpur division to make the campaign successful, he added.

“Community clinics would be the base for ensuring access to and improving healthcare at local levels. The service provision of the clinics would also go digital gradually,” he said as the chief guest at a view-exchange meeting with journalists on community clinics at Jatiya Press Club here.

Despite ups and downs, Ruhal Haque said, the concept of community clinic has generated a sense of relief for primary healthcare in rural areas, while huge enthusiasm among governments of many developing countries. The government, he said, would revitalize the community clinics at any cost to reach healthcare at the doorsteps of rural people.

The concept of community clinics was introduced during the last tenure of the Awami League government in order to ensure basic healthcare to every 6,000 rural people from each clinic. The government took the initiative to set up 13,500 such clinics across the country in late nineties, but the process was stalled between 2001 and 2008.

The present government, however, took a fresh initiative to revitalize the health programme with a target to build a total of 18,000 community clinics and bring the rural people under the coverage of primary healthcare.

Ruhal Haque said the community clinics should be the focal point for rendering healthcare to the majority of population, who in general live in rural areas with little or no healthcare access. He said more than 60 million people have so far taken services from the community clinics since its inception in last decade.

Suggestions from journalists also came up in the meeting to revitalize the rural health clinics through proper monitoring and planned assistance from the ministry.

A number of journalists suggested providing a strict guideline to health workers not to prescribe any drug at will or based on their experience as media reports show some health workers are trying to make extra income through private practices.

Telemedicine Working Group of Bangladesh (TWGBD) and Grameenphone(GP) have recently signed an agreement at the GP corporate head office in the capital recently. They signed the deal in order to increase accessibility of specialized dermatology services for the rural community.

This project will enable patients suffering from skin diseases to consult with a specialized doctor realtime via store and forward method with the help of Digital Imaging and Communication in Telemedicine (DICOT) & Telemedicine Information, Management and Education System (TIMES).

DHAKA, DEC 5: Nipro Corporation, a globally known Japanese pharmaceutical industry giant, announced Monday the purchase of around 51 per cent stake of a local pharmaceutical company for US$10,481 thousand.

The company, JMI Pharma Ltd, will change its name to Nipro JMI Pharma Ltd after the takeover, an official said. According to a press statement from the company, it eyes more market share of pharmaceutical products in Bangladesh, as the market expands approximately 15 per cent every year.

JMI Pharma is a concern of JMI Group, which has already commenced joint-venture with Nipro Corp about medical equipment business.

“We will work hard to develop new drugs with our manufacturing technique of pharmaceutical products and enforce domestic sales in Bangladesh,” a Nipro Corporation official said.

“We are planning to start pharma export to all 120 countries by the next few years to give a big boost to the country’s export earning,” Abdul Muktadir, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical industries (BAPI), told BSS today.

Muktadir, also managing director of Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd, said those days are not far off when Bangladesh would earn thousands of crore Taka from export of pharmaceutical products. “It is possible in the next five to seven years,” he said.

He said five leading companies — BEXIMCO, Incepta, Square, Renata and SK&F — recently received the United Kingdom’s Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certificate.

This certificate would not only help increase the standard of local medicines up to the UK standard but also expedite Bangladesh’s export to the potential destinations.

The said local products would also get registered by the next three or four years, he said, adding more ten companies are on the path to receive the GMP certification.

Referring to the steady export performance during the first quarter (July-September) of the current financial year, Muktadir said the export of local drug items is likely to increase by 30 to 40 per cent.

He recommended that the government allow local firms invest abroad to give the growing sector a fillip.

“We have the full capacity to start packaging industry or industrial units and we can invest abroad from our export retention. We need the government’s policy support.”

Potential segment of the pharma market is now 130 billion US dollars. Presently, a good number of local firms meet 97 per cent of the demand of the local market that stood at Taka 7,000 crore.

Dhaka, Sept 29: Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Ltd., one of Bangladesh’s leading pharmaceutical companies, has received the prestigious “International Star Award for Quality, Geneva 2011” from Business Initiative Directions (BID) at the 36th Quality Convention at Geneva, Switzerland recently, says a press release. The award marks an extremely significant milestone for the company as it symbolises international recognition for the company’s unflinching commitment to quality, leadership, technology and innovation spanning a period of more than six years.

Md Halimuzzaman, chief executive officer of Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, received the award from Jose E. Prieto, president of BID. The award is the first ever in Bangladesh in Pharmaceuticals sector.

The country’s drug export may see a massive boom in the coming days, as the local producers are getting prepared to join the billion dollar medicine supply chain of different international charities.

Global medicine donors like Clinton Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Oxfam and other agencies every year donate drugs worth billions of dollars to poor countries.

The government has recently started construction of a drug-testing laboratory according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, which the health minister expects to be completed within a year.

Earlier, the absence of such a world-class laboratory deprived the local medicine producers of supplying medicines to the international charities, industry insiders said.

In 2010 only, Clinton Foundation donated US$287 million, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation $166.5 million and Oxfam around $211 million for ensuring healthcare facilities to the people of the impoverished nations.

Besides, other internationally reputed charitable organisations have also been donating a significant amount of money every year for healthcare and research.

Exporters said Bangladesh will be able to sell medicines worth billions of dollars to the donor organisations, if the government sets up the drug-testing laboratory with certification from the WHO.

Secretary General of Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI) Abul Muktadir told the FE that the absence of a world-class drug-testing laboratory has been depriving the Bangladeshi companies of joining the donor organisations’ supply chain.

“Our medicine products are well accepted to a large number of countries across the world for their quality and competitive prices. But the absence of a quality lab has left us behind,” he said.

“Despite repeated requests by BAPI over the last decade, the government could not establish a modern world-class lab. However, we have heard that work for setting up such a lab has started recently.”

He also said many Bangladeshi exporters would be able to supply a good volume of drugs to the $5.0 billion charity chain within a couple of years after establishment of the lab.

“Once the donors’ are assured that the quality of Bangladeshi medicines is up to the WHO-standard and their prices are competitive, they would positively source pharma products from Bangladesh,” Muktadir added.

Health and Family Welfare Minister A F M Ruhal Haque said the government has started the process of adopting the WHO guidelines for the drug-testing laboratory.

“We have started the construction of a WHO-standard lab, and I am hopeful that the work will be completed within a year,” he added.

Bangladesh has 258 registered advanced drug manufacturing (allopathic) companies, of which 164 are actively involved in manufacturing or marketing of pharmaceutical products at home and abroad.

The country’s drug export recorded a growth at the rate of 46.31 per cent in the July-August period of this fiscal year (2011-12), comparing to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Bangladesh exports medicines to 67 countries. About 97 per cent of the country’s total drug consumption is met by local producers, while the rest 3.0 per cent is met through import.s